Cleveland at New York

We have watched Cleveland roll over the Yankees in the first two here. The Yankee bats have been asleep hitting just .121 in the first two games. Things will be different in this one. The Yankees are built to feast on the pitching of weak teams and the secondary pitching of good teams, especially at the Stadium. The Yankees have produced 248 runs in their last 31 home games, good for 7.48-runs per game (RPG). They have also allowed 146 runs or 4.70-rpg. That means since July 21, or just after the All-Star break they have played in 31 games at the Stadium that have produced 378 runs or 12.19 a game. That is 2.69 runs above the posted total here. They also played three games here against Cleveland, and the series produced 13, 11 and 14 runs. Yes, the Bronx Bombers did nothing in Cleveland, but neither has anyone else against the likes of Carmona and Sabathia. How much of a factor are those two pitchers? The Indians are 45-22 when they start a game, and in those 67 games the opponent has scored 237 runs or 3.54 a game. The Indians have played 97 games when they don't start, and have allowed 471 runs or 4.86 runs a game. That is a 1.32 run per game difference, so the overall stats of this team are highly biased by two front-line pitchers. Jake Westbrook could not get out of the second inning at Yankee Stadium in his lone start this season against the Yankees, and he was torched for eight runs. Throughout his career he has allowed left-handed hitters a higher batting average vs. their right-handed counterparts, and they hit .290 this season, the highest in four years, and the Yankees are almost a completely left-handed lineup. Yankee Stadium has been unkind to Westbrook. He has been 0-2 there over the last two years, working just 7.2 innings, 14 hits, 13 earned runs, eight walks and an ERA of 15.25. Roger Clemens has not been on the mound in over two weeks. The scouting report says he is injured and it shows up in his delivery. He is a gamer though, and a fierce competitor and will go out there on guts and desire. Not sure if that is good enough at age 45, and a potent lineup to face. We feel both teams have the situational capacity to topple this total individually. A final note here: In those 31 games played at the Stadium since July 21st, the Yankees have seen 10 or more runs scored in 20 of the 31. When games have been started by someone other than Pettitte or Wang, the total has reached 10 or more in 16 of 19 or 84% of the time. The value is on the OVER here.